


it's the small things that matter

by stilljunhui (acyria)



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragons, Everyone Loves Yang Jeongin | I.N, Fae & Fairies, Fluff, M/M, Nymphs & Dryads, Supernatural Elements, Tiny bit of Angst, Vampires, Werewolves, dragon jeongin!, in this midst of this all? human minho, very tiny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 01:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18885802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acyria/pseuds/stilljunhui
Summary: “Welcome to our humble household,” Chan said, making Jisung howl in delight as he quickly dragged Jeongin across the apartment and into one of the bedrooms.Sitting next to the older boy with an incredulous look on his face was Minho, the only human they had.“A dragon? Really?”“Honestly, Minho, you should be used to this by now.”





	it's the small things that matter

**Author's Note:**

> woops my hand slipped aGAIN (also pls i need more jeongho,,,) 
> 
>  
> 
> title taken from 3racha's small things!!! because i had them as my writing music!!! i love!!! 3racha!?!?!?!  
> (you could also count it from get cool i guess)

“I brought a dragon home!”

 

“You— _what?_ ”

 

Everybody in the living room stopped what they were doing to stare at Jisung, who was still standing by the door with a loopy grin on his face. He looked absolutely pleased with himself as he shuffled over to the side, revealing the boy who stood behind him, hidden only because the latter was doing his best to appear smaller with his head bowed and everything. The dragon had a head of red hair and pale skin; his eyes were sharp and pointed.

 

“I found him all alone,” Jisung explained, pulling the boy from behind him. “His name is Yang Jeongin. He just moved from Busan, so he doesn’t have a pack—“

 

“Dragons don’t have packs,” Felix interrupted, but even he looked at the newcomer with curiousity obvious in his pale pink eyes. “Besides, Chan’s in charge of us. Both of you may be werewolves, but doesn’t he have the final say?”

 

With that, three pairs of eyes turned towards the blonde sitting in the center of the room, enjoying a nice cup of coffee in peace before Jisung arrived. Chan took one look at the dragon, who was still staring at his feet, before deeming that there was no way Jeongin could bring harm to their little pack. Besides, it’s not like the rest of them weren’t strays that Chan found on the streets anyway, so it made perfect sense for Jisung to feel the need to adopt someone as well.

 

“Welcome to our humble household,” the older boy said, making Jisung howl in delight as he quickly dragged Jeongin across the apartment and into one of the bedrooms. 

 

Sitting next to Chan with an incredulous look on his face was Minho, the only human they had.

 

“A dragon? Really?”

 

“Honestly, Minho, you should be used to this by now.”

 

-

 

Lee Minho didn’t think there was anything weird with the housing ad he saw at the time. The place was relatively near his dance studio, rent was cheap, and he didn’t mind having a lot of company. He didn’t realize how misleading the term _open-house_ was until he moved and was met with a variety of magical creatures. He knew they existed—vampires and werewolves and what not—but he’s never really had to live with any of them before. 

 

Now, with the newcomer included, he lived with a total of eight other boys.

 

The term _boys_ was used as loosely as possible. 

 

He was pretty sure that the vampires—Changbin and Hyunjin—were older than him by centuries despite acting like children half the time. The nominated leader and therefore alpha of the pack, Chan, was at least more human in the way he acted compared to Jisung, who still howled at the moon whenever he wanted to annoy everybody else. At least the faeries weren’t out of the ordinary.He just had to get used to their oddly coloured eyes and the way Woojin would creep up on him, silent as a ghost, in the wee hours of the morning. 

 

(Don’t even get him started on what living with a forest nymph was like in the middle of a bustling city though. Half the time, he wanted to chuck Seungmin back into the woods.)

 

At least their latest addition, despite being the one that he had the most trouble taking in properly, was actually the one who brought Minho the least amount of worries. Yang Jeongin, 18 years old even in human years, took a while before he warmed up to everybody else. That meant that for a week or so, the red-head spent his days following Jisung aimlessly around the apartment, as timid as a rat despite supposedly being a dragon.

 

Whenever he had to talk to anybody else, the tip of Jeongin’s ears would turn red. 

 

Minho would have found it cute, if he wasn’t inwardly wondering about whether or not the younger boy could actually breathe fire and accidentally burn the place down.

 

-

 

He didn’t have to ask because Hyunjin does it for him.

 

“Innie,” the vampire announced loudly one night, cornering Jeongin who was sitting next to Felix on the living room couch, peacefully watching a movie. Unfortunately for him, he had yet to realize that the first rule of being in Bang Chan’s pack was that the word _peace_ was pretty much non-existent. Minho watched what was happening from his spot on the floor by Felix’s legs, already knowing the glint in Hyunjin’s eyes meant trouble.

 

“Yes?” Jeongin asked, looking up.

 

“Changbin and I made a bet,” the other answered with a quick smile. “He says this new jacket of his is fireproof. I said there’s no way something he bought for cheap online was really fireproof. Do you mind helping us, Innie?”

 

“You want me to set Changbin’s jacket on fire?” The dragon asked, uncertainty laced in his words.

 

“Correct.”

 

Next to him, Felix was glancing back and forth between the two, “can you breathe fire in human form, Innie?”

 

“I never tried,” the younger boy said, but he was already standing up, which made Hyunjin clap his hands happily like an excited seal. 

 

Honestly, Minho wasn’t sure why he followed them up to the apartment roof in the middle of the night, but he reasoned that it was because he was the eldest among them at the time and _someone_ had to made sure nobody got hurt. Admittedly, he also soon realized that as the only human, he was the only one who could actually really get hurt in the situation, but he ignored that fact like he sometimes did when presented with his supernatural housemates.

 

He learned two things that night.

 

Yes, Jeongin can breathe fire even in human form, something that shocked even himself.

 

And no, Changbin’s jacket was not fireproof. 

 

-

 

Dragons, Minho also soon learned, had something called hoards. They’re all on the floor of the living room with blankets and pillows strewn about when he found out; ever since Woojin said something along the lines of never watching a Harry Potter film before, Seungmin immediately freaked out and demanded a movie night. It became tradition that every Wednesday would mean a new movie for them to watch.

 

In the middle of watching _Eragon_ , Jisung asked an important question.

 

“How accurate is the film, Innie?”

 

“We don’t come from eggs,” the younger boy said with a small pout that Hyunjin immediately cooed over, making the dragon flush when he realized that was probably a given fact. Well, Jeongin explained further, at least none of the shape-shifting dragons came from eggs anymore. After a few seconds, he also added, “not all hoards consists of gold and jewels, either.”  


“What’s a hoard?” Minho asked, being the clueless human that he was.

 

He turned to Felix, their resident information nerd who more often than not, knew more about dragons than Jeongin knew about himself. 

 

Sure enough, even the red-haired boy was staring at him. 

 

“It’s like a collection of prized possessions,” the blonde started to say, glancing at Jeongin to make sure he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries, but the younger boy didn’t seem to mind letting everybody else know. Felix continued by saying that every dragon had a hoard that they guarded and were very protective over. It was usually quite obvious because the dragon would have a lot of just one thing; some hoarded books, some still kept jewelry, while there were a few that had animals as their hoard.

 

While the faerie was explaining, Minho glanced over at Jeongin and couldn’t help but wonder what the boy’s hoard could possibly be. The latter had entered their apartment with just a few bags and nothing else. While he did have a growing collection of stuffed toys on his bed, it wasn’t something he was particularly protective over. Seungmin often stole a doll or two on some nights. Still, he nodded to everything Felix had said, so he must have a hoard, right?

 

-

 

The first time that he was left alone with Jeongin was a complete accident. 

 

Minho was actually prepared to stay in the apartment alone due to various reasons.

 

It was the full moon and the werewolves were always careful to stay away from them during such nights, while Woojin often followed after them just to make sure they were okay; Changbin’s mother was holding a grand birthday party and since they were one of the higher-ups in the vampire social circle, Hyunjin practically whined the older boy’s ear off to be invited; Felix and Seungmin had exams—since they still had to go to school apparently, Minho didn’t understand either—and both boys were staying over at somebody else’s dorm for the weekend. 

 

Meanwhile, Jeongin had gone back to Busan for the week and wasn’t supposed to be back until the week after. 

 

So when the doorbell rang right before Minho was about to start binge watching his latest show, he wasn’t expecting to see the red-head standing with his bags by his side and an awkward smile in place.

 

“Turns out my family planned a trip without me and forgot,” he explained as he entered the apartment. Jeongin looked around the empty space and must have immediately thought something was off; normally, there would be at least one or two other boys who greeted him right off the bat, but all he had that night was Minho. The human couldn’t help but feel kind of awkward as well, but he brushed it off and smiled.

 

“Well, I was about to watch a show. Care to join me?” He asked, resuming his seat on the living room couch. 

 

It only occurred to him a little late that they’ve never really been alone together before. They were friends, to say the least, but Minho had to admit that most of the time, Jeongin was too swept up by the everybody else’s antics for them to really hang out together. He wasn’t dense though; despite agreeing to watch together, it was clear that something was bothering the younger boy, whose eyes kept darting around the empty space of the living room.

 

After just a few minutes into the show, Minho couldn’t help but hit pause.

 

“Is everything alright?” He glanced at the younger boy with worried eyes. “You don’t have to tell me the specifics, I’m just making sure.”

 

“I didn’t know everybody else was gone.”

 

“Must be weird being stuck with the only human, huh?” Minho said jokingly, but the joke must have flew over the other boy’s head because Jeongin immediately flushed and shook his head.

 

“It’s not that!” The younger boy said quickly, gnawing at his bottom lip in worry, the tip of his ears gaining a bright pink tint. There was clearly something else he wanted to say, so Minho stayed quiet while he waited, idly tapping on his laptop. Jeongin glanced towards the older boy before looking down. He took a deep breath and spoke again, “I’m not used to having so much of my hoard gone all at once, that’s all.”

 

His hoard?

 

The brunette tried to remember everything he learned about hoards just a few weeks ago; ever since he first wondered what Jeongin’s hoard could be, Minho didn’t really think about it again. He was still pretty sure the younger boy didn’t collect a lot of things. It wasn’t a topic he brought up with any of the others either, since hoards were usually kept secret, being something so important to a dragon and all. A dragon’s only weakness would be letting someone know what his hoard was, they said.

 

“You hoard… people?” Minho asked tentatively, receiving a small nod in return. “So, you’re kind of protecting us or something like that? Or you need a lot of us around?”

 

“Dragons don’t choose what they hoard,” Jeongin said timidly, fingers playing with his jacket’s sleeve. “It just happens. My family is part of my hoard. I almost fell sick when I moved from Busan, but thanks to Jisung, that didn’t happen. Everybody in this apartment was immediately a part of my hoard the moment I got here. It’s kind of weird, but I don’t mind.”

 

The older boy couldn’t help but wonder out loud, “even me?”

 

He received a confused little frown in response.

 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t you be?”

 

Honestly speaking, Minho was just constantly surprised by every new supernatural information he got, but with the way the younger boy looked almost _hurt_ by the thought, he was beginning to feel bad for thinking otherwise. He decided to awkwardly laugh his way out of the situation and wrap an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders, definitely catching Jeongin by surprise if the little yelp he let out was anything to judge things by.

 

“I’m just one person, but let’s keep your mind off of everybody else, alright?” He said as he pulled the red-head closer. “Just watch this show with me, fall asleep, and some of the guys should be back by the time you wake up. Okay, Jeongin?”

 

“Okay.”

 

There was a pause before Minho felt the younger boy melt into him.

 

-

 

(The next day, bright and early, Woojin was back with just Chan, since Jisung insisted he needed more time to run around before returning. They clamoured loudly back into the apartment before realizing that Minho was asleep on the living room couch, his neck at a weird angle with how much space Jeongin had managed to take on his shoulder. The two older boys shared a look, before smiling fondly at the two and quietly finding their way back to their own rooms.) 

 

-

 

“What do you want to eat?”

 

Minho didn’t even need to look to know that it was Jeongin who decided to rest his head on the older boy’s shoulder. Other than the bright shade of red he could see from his peripheral vision, it was way too early for any of the others to be awake, anyway. Well, there was Seungmin who usually joined them for breakfast, but he was tired out from playing video games with the vampires all night. 

 

“Do we have steak?”

 

“Steak for breakfast?” The brunette asked with a loud laugh. “In your dreams, Jeongin.”

 

“Why don’t you ever call me Innie?” 

 

His voice was still heavy with sleep, but the tone of his words were clear enough for Minho to make out the way there was a little whine beneath them, which was pretty rare coming from Jeongin. Most of the time, the younger boy would jokingly pretend to be annoyed whenever he was being babied for being the youngest among them. He would say something like how he was strong and terrifying, being a dragon and all.

 

In the middle of the morning with the sun yet to rise, he sounded just like a regular boy.

 

“Do you want me to that badly?” Minho asked with a small hum.

 

By then, Jeongin must have realized what he asked, as he quickly stepped away from the older boy like he was burned (how ironic, Minho though to himself). 

 

“I didn’t mean it like that,” the red-haired boy stammered out. “I was just wondering.”

 

Minho took the chance to turn around, now that he was sure he won’t burn the eggs he was frying. He was glad he decided to do so; it was always a cute sight to see the dragon all embarrassed. Jeongin’s cheeks nearly matched his hair as he tried his best to stare anywhere but towards the older boy, who had a cheeky grin on his face for sure, but he couldn’t help it. Ever since he learned about how much Jeongin treasured all of them, his heart had greatly softened for the younger boy.

 

“I’ll think of another nickname to call you,” the brunette said teasingly. “I want to be special.”

 

It was hard to miss the way Jeongin perked up at his response, eyes widening by a fraction, before visibly blushing an even darker shade of red. He scampered away with some excuse that he’ll go wake up the others. Minho watched him go, wondering why he liked it so much to see the younger boy all flustered, before shrugging it off. He spent the rest of the morning coming up with random nicknames in his head as he resumed cooking breakfast.

 

-

 

When Minho came home from dance practice one day, he was surprised to find Jeongin in the center on the living room, surrounded by the seven other boys.

 

“Are we holding some kind of intervention?” He asked jokingly, before he was dragged by Jisung to sit on the floor as well.

 

The werewolf pouted, “Innie just told us that we’re his hoard.”

 

“Oh, I know,” Minho said, surprising everybody else who turned back to Jeongin, ready to complain about why _they_ weren’t informed earlier. Before they could bombard the younger one with their whining, the human couldn’t help but wonder why something like that would result in such a tense atmosphere. He nudged Felix, who thankfully sat beside him. “Why did you guys corner him after finding out?”

 

“If there’s a hoard, there has to be a jewel,” the blonde said simply, before remembering that he was talking to a human. 

 

“Thanks for constantly forgetting.”

 

Felix grinned apologetically, “your good looks make you seem other-worldly.”

 

“So what’s this about a jewel?” Minho asked out loud after rolling his eyes at the faerie. His eyes scanned the room before landing on Jeongin himself; out of everybody there, it only made sense that the dragon would know best, especially since that seemed to be what everybody else wanted to know. Hyunjin pouted at the question, before repeating it, staring at the dragon pointedly. The red-haired boy chuckled nervously thanks to all the pressure.

 

“I don’t know who my jewel is,” he finally said, offering a small smile as a sign of peace. 

 

“It’s probably someone from his family,” Chan said, trying to calm the rest down, who began to say that they wanted to be Jeongin’s jewel. Basically, Jeongin’s favourite, Minho was beginning to understand. The werewolf’s suggestion was quickly shut down by Seungmin, who noted that if it was a family member, then Jeongin shouldn’t be able to stand being far away from them. It _had_ to be one them in the apartment, then. 

 

After a few minutes, Changbin spoke up, “maybe he doesn’t have a jewel yet?”

 

“Let’s not pressure him,” Hyunjin suddenly agreed, nodding. “We _all_ know it’ll be me when it happens, anyway.”

 

That started yet another friendly squabble among everybody else, while Jeongin watched with an amused smile, laughing every now and then. Jisung reasoned out that it was _definitely_ going to be him, since he was the one who brought the dragon home in the first place. Seungmin and Felix argued that they spent the most time with Jeongin, while Chan insisted that he didn’t have to give a reason to be Jeongin’s favourite. Woojin only spoke up to argue with the others, but didn’t give a reason of his own.

 

In the midst of it all, Minho was pretty sure it wasn’t him, so why bother defending himself?

 

His silence caught Changbin’s attention, who quickly turned to him with a certain look.

 

“How come you’re not saying anything?”

 

“I already know I’m Yeni’s favourite,” the brunette said simply. 

 

“ _Yeni?_ ”

 

Minho wasn’t sure who asked because he kept his eyes trained on Jeongin the whole time; he watched, amused, as the younger boy caught onto the new nickname with his mouth opening slightly in shock. The older boy only laughed, delighted at the response and at the way the others began to complain that he wasn’t allowed to have a new nickname for their precious Innie. He shot back that his made-up nickname clearly sounded better. 

 

-

 

“How’s my Yeni doing?” 

 

Ever since he announced the nickname, Minho had made it a point to use it around Jeongin as much as possible. Mainly because it gave him such a cute response, but also because he figured that was how the younger boy would have wanted things to go, anyway. At least, the dragon never really complained against the nickname, even if he would visibly flush whenever Minho called him such, especially when used possessively.

 

“I’m bored,” Jeongin said simply, flopping down next to the brunette on the couch. “Can we watch that show again?”

 

“You missed the other episodes though.”

 

“I just wanted to watch something,” the other replied softly, already settling down with his head on Minho’s shoulder. “Can we?”

 

Who was he to say no to that, honestly? Minho complied easily, deciding to watch an earlier episode just so that Jeongin could relate a little more. That meant he didn’t have to watch the show himself, choosing instead to take note of random things around the living room, before his eyes landed on the boy next to him. From how close they were, there wasn’t much of Jeongin he could see, save for the top of the other’s head.

 

He craned his head forward an inch so he could see Jeongin’s face better. 

 

They’ve only been living together for a few months, but it was easy to see that the younger boy was growing up at a surprisingly quick rate. Maybe it was the dragon blood? Whatever it was, Minho couldn’t help but admire the way Jeongin’s features seemed a lot sharper than the first time they met. His skin was still smooth and fair, his eyelashes rested on his cheekbones quite nicely, and his teeth sometimes peeked through his lips.

 

His lips that Minho stared at for a bit longer than he should have.

 

“Hey, Yeni?”

 

He received a grunt in reply as Jeongin didn’t look away from the laptop screen.

 

“Can you look at me?”

 

“I’m trying to watch,” the younger boy complained, but looked up regardless. “What is it?”

 

“I kind of want to kiss you,” Minho said, surprising even himself. “Is that okay?”

 

He expected a quick and flat no, but seconds passed with neither of them moving nor saying anything. The older boy could feel the way Jeongin tensed up next to him though, since they were still practically leaning on each other. There were a million little warning bells ringing in Minho’s head, everything warning him to take back what he just asked, but he was stubborn. So he waited a little more, before finally receiving his answer.

 

“Why?”

 

Honestly, Minho didn’t know.

 

“I don’t know,” he repeated out loud.

 

-

 

It was the wrong move. Jeongin promptly got up and left the living room, rushing to his shared room with Jisung without another word, where he stayed for the rest of the night. He faked having a fever so he wouldn’t have to come out for dinner, which everybody else but Minho bought, but the older boy didn’t know what to do. He wanted to say that Jeongin’s body was _always_ warm to touch, the boy was a _dragon_ for heaven’s sake, but he kept quiet.

 

-

 

Yang Jeongin ignored him for another week.

 

Nobody noticed it at first, but Seungmin was always strangely perceptive to these things. One day he was taking note of the awkward silence in the air whenever the two were together—no nicknames from Minho, no half-hearted complaints from Jeongin—and the next day, he was dragging the human up to the roof for a little talk. Minho was pretty sure that he made another wrong move, he was the one being chucked over the roof.

 

“What happened between you two?” The nymph asked immediately. “Hyunjin’s been telling me that Jeongin’s been pretty sad, but none of us really know why.”

 

“I don’t really know how to answer you,” Minho answered, guilt eating him up that their usually bright and happy dragon-born was in a bad mood even around the others. He figured it was just around him, but then again, he hasn’t really tried to make things right recently. That was probably what made Seungmin notice things even faster. He hasn’t been alone with Jeongin ever since that afternoon.

 

The younger boy frowned, “then I suggest you talk to him. He’s a dragon; they’re one of the most prideful races, ever. Even more so than the vampires. I mean—“  


“I think I get it, no need to explain.”

 

“Please do something,” Seungmin said, voice getting softer.

 

When Minho went back to the apartment filled with new resolve that he was going to fix things, he was nearly hit by the front door. 

 

“What the—“

 

“Jeongin’s missing,” Chan said seriously, in the middle of wearing his jacket. “We don’t know where he could be, but he’ll get sick without his hoard.”

  
Felix followed behind him, shaking his head, “what was he thinking?”

 

-

 

Hoard sickness, Minho learned as he raced along the streets of Seoul with everybody else, occurred when a dragon was kept away from their hoard for a long amount of time. It started with a fever—yes, dragons can get fevers, it just meant they burned up faster than normal. Usually paired with fatigue and trouble breathing for some, almost like a panic attack. If the dragon already had a jewel, then it could be triggered by the being far from their jewel as well.

 

“Where could he be?” Jisung asked, sniffing in the air and trying desperately to catch a whiff of Jeongin’s scent. “He couldn’t have gone far, right?”

 

“I was just going to get him some water,” Hyunjin said, voice strained. He had been the last one in the room with the younger boy, who barely left his bed all week. He really did end up with a fever, but with everybody else taking care of him already, Minho still didn’t check up on him. The human would only ask Woojin or whoever would leave the room for updates. It occurred to him a bit late that he hasn’t seen the dragon for that long as well.

 

Minho patted the vampire’s back, “it’s not your fault, Hyunjin. Trust me on this one.”

 

He tried to avoid Seungmin’s gaze as he walked ahead of the rest, still in search for Jeongin.

 

There was a weird atmosphere in the air, one that he didn’t notice before. He was going wherever his feet would take him, since he had no lead whatsoever, but something felt different. It was almost as if he was being lead somewhere, somehow. He rounded a corner that Changbin already passed by earlier and did a double-take into a seemingly empty alley. It was dark and wet due to the rainfall they had earlier that day.

 

Minho took a step into the alleyway regardless.

 

He walked further inside and glanced around, doubting that Jeongin would be hiding inside one of the large trashcans. There was no area that looked like it could hide a small boy, actually, but he continued to walk slowly inside. He reached the end of the alley and was about to walk back, when he noticed a bundle of rags on the floor. Every inch of his body told him to approach and he did so without really thinking twice. It was then that he heard a soft, sniffling sound. 

 

Wrapped up in the rags—which turned out to be clothes, familiar ones, at that—was a small dragon, seemingly asleep if it weren’t for the way its body was shaking from the cold. It was white in colour with red details on its ears and paws. When Minho approached, the dragon opened one of its eyes, peering at the human for a few seconds. It let out a small growl before immediately jumping up and winding itself around Minho’s neck. 

 

“Jeongin,” the brunette said immediately, feeling the dragon squeeze around his neck a little tighter before releasing. “You scared all of us.”

 

The dragon let out a low growl.

 

“I know, it’s my fault,” Minho apologized with a sigh, bringing his hand to pat the top of the dragon’s head, like he would have done towards a human Jeongin if he had the chance. He felt the dragon tense up slightly before relaxing into his touch, making him smile because that was exactly how Jeongin would have reacted, too. “Let’s go back to the apartment and talk about things, okay? Everybody else is looking for you, too.”

 

(It took a few seconds for Jisung to find them just as Minho left the alley, Jeongin’s clothes in his hands, the dragon resting around his neck still. The werewolf took one look at them and seemed to understand.)

 

-

 

“Are you going to let go of Minho now?” Hyunjin asked with a pout. “All of us looked for you, just because he found you first—“

 

“Not to mention,” Changbin interrupted to add. “You weren’t even _talking_ to him before this whole thing, what—“

 

Without another word, Woojin dragged the two out of the room despite the vampires’ complaints. Everybody else seemed to have caught on to what happened except for those two, Minho thought to himself. He watched Chan give Jeongin a warm smile before leaving the room as well. The latter had shifted back into his human form soon after reaching the apartment, where Felix already had a large blanket ready to wrap him in. 

 

Even then, Jeongin didn’t let go of his hold on Minho’s arm, while the older easily fit the two of them onto the younger boy’s bed.

 

“Must be nice,” Jisung whispered with a small sniff just before he left, “being his jewel.”

 

Before Seungmin left, the forest nymph gave Minho a pointed look, which the older boy rolled his eyes to in response. There was a silence that filled the air when the last person in the room left them alone, but it wasn’t a particularly uncomfortable one. With his arms wrapped around the younger boy, Minho was pretty sure he didn’t have to ask to know that Jeongin was beyond tired. How hard was it dealing with hoard sickness this whole time? All because of one human boy, too.

 

“Jeongin,” Minho mumbled softly into the younger boy’s hair. “I’m sorry.”

 

He didn’t feel like he deserved to be the jewel, but he was thankful for it. If it weren’t for the bond being a dragon’s jewel gave him, he wouldn’t have found Jeongin at all. Not to mention, he wouldn’t have the younger boy so close to him, desperate to be near his heart’s most prized possession. Of course, the brunette still knew that they wouldn’t have had to deal with Jeongin running away all of a sudden if he didn’t mess up as the jewel at all.

 

“How did I become the jewel?” He asked, mostly to himself.

 

“I wish I knew.”

 

The younger boy finally opened his eyes to look up at the older boy. His eyes were still tinted with the dragon’s gold colour, not yet fully adapting back to his human state. He blinked a few times, tell-tale white scales also still visible on his eyelids. Minho couldn’t help but stare—he had always found Jeongin’s features to be addictive to look at, but mixed in with his dragon heritage, the red-haired boy looked even more handsome.

 

“You look good like this,” the brunette mused, bringing his hand up to muss up Jeongin’s hair.

 

“Maybe this is why,” the dragon started to say, looking away. “You do and say these things and my heart can’t help but react.”

 

Minho chuckled, “your reactions are cute, that’s why.”

 

“But you don’t like me that way.”

 

“Who says?” The older boy asked immediately, before realization dawned on him. He’s never actually thought about it before, but he was pretty sure he liked Jeongin more than he had planned to, which wasn’t much to begin with. It couldn’t have been a result of being the jewel; he was sure of that, at least, even if Jeongin seemed to look like he was doubting Minho’s sincerity. All because he couldn’t answer why he wanted to kiss the younger boy?

 

Fair enough.

 

“I would kiss you now,” the human tried again, smiling to himself when he noticed Jeongin’s ears turning red. “And it’s because I like you. But you still have a fever, don’t you?”

 

“Stupid hoard sickness.”

 

-

 

One day, Minho came home to the sight of Jeongin sleeping on his bed, wearing one of the human’s favourite sweaters. Ever since they settled the whole jewel thing, he was careful not to be away from the dragon for too long, especially if the others weren’t around. Everybody else still joked that they would steal the jewel title away from Minho eventually, but with the way Jeongin only laughed in response, the brunette was pretty sure his position was safe.

**Author's Note:**

> > Binnie’s non-fireproof jacket was inspired by this video of TVXQ's Yunho:  
> ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrukVMvm11c )
> 
> > The entire idea of soul hoards and jewels was inspired by this fic:  
> ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/14046402 )
> 
> > Jeongin's nickname is from The 9th, Season 4. Long live Yeni and Mustard (and Bokie).
> 
> > If you liked the fic, please consider buying me coffee!   
> ( https://ko-fi.com/stilljunhui )
> 
> > Stan Jeongho ! ! !   
> ( twt / cc : @stilljunhui )


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